Flowers
by LondonBelow
Summary: Erestor discovers that Estel has trampled his flowers; Galadriel arrives for a visit.


Disclaimer: I do not own Lord of the Rings or any characters and/or places thereof  
  
*****  
  
The early morning sun spilled golden light over the peaceful valley Imladris, alighting on the tired features of its many sleeping inhabitants. Energetic heaps of feather darted this way and that, singing joyous greetings to the dawn. A mortal boy clutched an aging bear toy to his chest with one hand, the thumb of his other hand resting stickily half-in and half-out of his mouth. The half-elven Lord of Imladris sat upright, his head nodding against his chest, having fallen asleep watching his son. He smiled. In fact, it seemed all of Imladris in smiles.  
  
Then Erestor woke up.  
  
"Ai!"  
  
Elrond's head shot up, but not so quickly as Estel's. The child considered this shout for a moment, wondering why Erestor sounded so angry, then he remembered and quickly leapt from the bed, trailing covers behind him, and rolled beneath it, cowering with his bear for protection. Before Elrond could move to talk Estel out of hiding Erestor's lamentation continued.  
  
"My plants! My precious plants...cruel circumstance!" Erestor never had been a poet.  
  
Estel dared loosen his muscles, and wriggled just enough to poke his head out from beneath the bed. "Ada?" he asked. "What's funny?"  
  
Elrond bit his cheeks, remembering that laughing at another's sorrow never taught any child a valuable lesson. "Nothing, Estel. I believe Erestor is overreacting...this has happened before, when the sparrows enjoyed his flowers a bit more than he enjoyed them! It seems he neglected to take proper precautions...Estel?"  
  
The child drew himself back under the bed and Elrond sighed. This could take hours, unless Elrohir elected to arrive home very, very soon. "What is it, Estel?" Elrond asked, negotiating to see beneath the bed to where Estel had positioned himself.  
  
"The sparrows didn't eat Erestor's flowers, Ada," Estel said quietly, speaking to his bear. "I think I ran them over in the night."  
  
Elrond wanted very badly to laugh, but he knew that any such action would cause Estel to cry. Instead he reached under the bed, and Estel took his hand. It never failed to amaze him, that Estel's hands seemed so fragile, always warm and a little damp with sweat, almost a transient feel. "You were frightened, Estel. Erestor's plants will grow again. Imladris has all the soil in the world for such things. I am sure if you apologized, Erestor would understand--"  
  
Erestor had the most unfortunate timing to burst into the room at that moment and ask, "Elrond, where is that feral child? He has ruined my plants!"  
  
At that Estel pulled his hands away from Elrond's and burst into tears. "I'm sorry!" he cried. "I didn't mean to!"  
  
Elrond raised an eyebrow, as if to say, "Now look what you have done?"  
  
"Ah...I...perhaps I overreacted a little." Erestor's anger slipped away from him as water through a sieve as Estel continued to wail uncontrollably.  
  
"If you could find Elladan, please, Erestor?" Elrond asked, feeling rather angry with his counselor. It is one thing to have a hobby: in fact, Elrond found it quite good that Erestor had a hobby as, intelligent though he was, Erestor had no manner with people. The child's cries had all but paralyzed him, and he stood in the doorway nodding. "Erestor? Now, please."  
  
"Oh--yes, of course."  
  
With Erestor gone Elrond returned his attention to the little one beneath the furniture. "Estel, he is not truly angry."  
  
Estel curled into a ball. "I will stay here until he is not angry at al, for true or fake!"  
  
Elrond sighed. Why did Estel take these issues to heart? "Do you want to talk to Erestor when he is calmer?"  
  
"Yes," Estel answered honestly. "I wish to apologize for trampling his flowers. I am sorry: they were pretty."  
  
"Perhaps by the time you have calmed yourself, Erestor will also be calm. I think you both owe each other an apology."  
  
At first Estel's sobs continued, though muffled, then he began to take deep breaths. This strategy had been taught to him a few months ago and proved quite helpful in many ways: Estel worked by breathing to become more patient, calmer, and to think his problems through more logically. Though only seven years old, Estel advanced quickly because he never had exposure to any children his own age. Sometimes this did sadden Elrond, but a child's will cannot be dominated by the mere presence of adults. Estel knew how to play, and he made full use of this knowledge.  
  
To help his son, Elrond also practiced meditative breathing, counting in his mind the inhale, hold, exhale counts of five. For a long while they continued this way, calming themselves to a point from which panic seemed absolutely unnecessary.  
  
"What's this I hear about my brother hiding under beds?"  
  
"Elrohir! You are home!" Estel scrambled out of hiding and sprinted to the doorway. He threw himself into Elrohir so forcefully that Elrohir nearly fell to the floor, held up perhaps in part by Estel's tight embrace.  
  
Elrohir smiled and brushed the dust from Estel's hair. "It is good to see you, too, Little Brother."  
  
"I don't want you ever to go away without me ever again ever!" Estel mumbled, his voice muffled by Elrohir's tunic. Elrond, meanwhile, stood, and smiled at his sons. Elrohir met his father's eyes and smiled back.  
  
"That can be arranged," Elrohir answered, only half joking, and lifted Estel. Carrying the child proved quite easy for Elrohir, and for most Elves, as Estel at nine years seemed very small indeed. "Will you tell me why you were hiding under the bed?"  
  
Estel answered him, "Last night I had a bad dream and when I went to find you and Elladan I ran through the courtyard and trampled the flowers and Erestor is upset." He took a deep breath. "And now he hates me."  
  
"Hate is a terrible thing," Elrohir answered, his voice suddenly very low and quiet. "Erestor does not hate you, Estel, and you must never think that." At that moment Erestor arrived on scene, accompanied by a sleepy- headed Elladan. Elrohir offered a smile to his twin, and to Erestor he said, holding out a small package of brown paper, "These are seeds from Lothlorien forest. I planned to give them to you, but now I think perhaps not. If flowers local to Imladris are so precious to you that they matter more than my brother, the seeds of Lothlorien might lose him his head."  
  
"Elrohir--"  
  
Interrupting and pointedly ignoring his father's rebuke, Elrohir shifted the brown package back into his pocket and held Estel with both arms. "You will never guess who has come to visit us, Estel," he said.  
  
At this the child looked up. "Who? Is it...is it..." Estel never could remember all the names he heard. "Who is it?" he asked at last. "When do I get to meet him?"  
  
Elrohir smiled and raised an eyebrow at Elladan, who bit his tongue not to laugh. "Elladan and I will take you to Father's study and introduce you to her. Is that all right, Ada? Would you like to come?"  
  
"No, you three go on: I will see that Erestor is all right."  
  
"Her?" Estel asked, situated on the ground. He took Elladan's left hand and Elrohir's right and held tightly to his brothers. Erestor's anger did not flee his mind, but Erestor fled the scene, and so Estel breathed easier. "It's a -girl-?"  
  
The twins chuckled. "You will see," they promised him, wondering what exactly Estel expected.  
  
What, or perhaps who, he saw in his father's study certainly did not meet his expectations--not to say she fell short of them, either, simply that she was something he could not have dreamed up. She wore her hair down, beautiful golden tresses flowing down her back so long she might easily have sat upon her hair, had she wanted to. Her skin was pale and smooth, but also aged, like a perfect medium between cloth and paper. There is no reason to continue, for words cannot do justice to her sparkling eyes and perfect mouth.  
  
Estel perceived her as the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. She was, in fact, the -second- woman he had ever seen, the first being his mother, and so would be by process of elimination his measure of feminine beauty for many years, being as Estel had not a strong enough bond with his mother to consider her the basis for this. His first reaction was to draw a parallel to all the women he had ever heard of--whose names seemed to return by magic.  
  
"Elladan." Estel tugged at his brother's sleeve, and when Elladan leaned down he whispered, "You should tell Glorfindel that he should change the story if you found Nimrodel."  
  
"What--oh. Oh! No, Estel, she is not Nimrodel. This is Lady Galadriel, our grandmother."  
  
Then Estel's eyes grew as wide as discuses. "You're my ada's mumma?" he asked, awed.  
  
Galadriel laughed, not taunting the boy but truly amused by this. "No, child. I am the mother of Elladan and Elrohir's mother."  
  
"You must be older than all Imladris!" he exclaimed, speaking without thinking.  
  
"Estel!" Elrohir exclaimed. "Apologize!"  
  
The boy bit his lip. He hardly knew what he had done wrong! "But...but I..."  
  
Galadriel intervened. "Oh, Elrohir, peace! I am older than Imladris!" She knelt to be the same height as her new companion. "Although, Hope, this is not something one should say so forwardly."  
  
Estel decided that he liked Galadriel and was glad she had come for a visit. He was not so sure on how he felt about her calling him Hope.  
  
Elladan jokingly protested, "You will teach him awful manners, Grandmother."  
  
"Nonsense," Galadriel answered, straightening to her full (and imposing) height. "You two turned out just fine." She smiled at him and her eyes sparkled with mirth. "Save that your generosity seems to lack of late if you have not even a spare hug for your grandmother."  
  
"Ai, forgive a forgetful youth!" Elladan replied, hugging Galadriel fondly. "It is wonderful to see you again, Grandmother."  
  
"And you, child." She kissed his cheek. "It has been far too long. Tell me, where has this come from?" She held his bandaged wrist.  
  
"Elrohir, may I go outside and play?" Estel asked. With Elladan's permission he dashed from the room, hiding his blush.  
  
*  
  
Before Estel knew a moment had passed the sky was darkening as the sun submitted to the call of dusk. He wandered back to his room to change, his clothes muddy and rent from play. On the way he encountered Erestor, who knelt in the dirt, carefully placing a seed in the ground. Estel began to pass him by, then he said, "E-Erestor?"  
  
"Yes, Estel, what is it?" Erestor asked without looking up.  
  
"I'm sorry I killed your flowers."  
  
Erestor leaned back and looked into Estel's eyes. The boy meant his words. "Be a little more careful next time."  
  
Estel nodded. Erestor went back to work, but Estel did not leave. "I'd like to help you," he ventured. Erestor looked up in surprise, then nodded. Estel knelt beside him in the dirt. "Look. This flower is dead," he said, raising the limp petals. "The stem is snapped in two. Eradicate--that means to remove the roots, stem and all--the dead..."  
  
The boy made mistakes. He pulled up at least three living flowers. But he also tried very hard, and Erestor could not chide him too harshly for his mistakes. When the two could not longer see, Estel said, "Oh, no. We must be late for supper now, and we're all dirty! Ada will not be happy about this..."  
  
But the two went to supper dirty, anyway: they liked it, too.  
  
*****  
  
The End  
  
All right, for everyone who does not know I write one-shot stories meant to fit together as one longer story but also able to stand on their own. If you have any questions you'd like answered, leave an e-mail address with your review and I'll get back to you. Reviews are always appreciated. Also, I am looking for a beta reader, so if anyone is willing to help me it would be appreciated. 


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